Romanian state-owned EximBank pays EUR 59.4 mln to NBG for Banca Romaneasca

Romanian state-owned EximBank paid EUR 59.4 million for a 99.28% stake in the National Bank of Greece - NBG's local subsidiary Banca Romaneasca.

As part of the deal, it also transferred EUR 65 mln to NBG, as a collateral deposit that matured in July 2020 - when all the procedures related to the transaction were completed. The intra-group financing contracted by Banca Romanească from NBG - EUR 90 mln - was reimbursed directly by Banca Romanească to NBG from its own sources, Ziarul Financiar daily wrote, quoting Banca Romaneasca reports.

EximBank finalized on January 23, 2020, the acquisition of 99.28% of the share capital of Banca Romaneasca. With the acquisition, EximBank enters the retail banking segment and turns into a universal bank. The combined bank will be one of the top 10 banks in Romania with a market share of approximately 3%, according to EximBank's press release.

EximBank did not mention the value of the deal or the financing source at the time the takeover was completed. But the bank's CEO, Traian Halalai, claimed that EximBank "already earned" some EUR 70 mln from the deal.

(Photo source: Eximbank.ro)